K'Gari. Voyage of adventure , to the horizon and beyond........: Dragon Day

Ok I will let you down gently- it's not real! Just one of a pair of "eco friendly" concrete dragons.

Up betimes, a load of washing done and hung and we were ashore on time and on budget for 0700.

At the jetty head we were met by our guide Agus, and away we went,having decided to book a medium length tour. This we were told would be about an hour and a half.

Apparently the dragons are at their liveliest early in the morning- which when interpreted,means you have more chance of actually seeing one move! As the sun rises, they move about to find the sun rays to warm themselves up.

The very easy rated meander took us through "woodlands" , which were relatively sparsely spaced trees, which then gave way to a moderate grassy covered incline, which lead to a ridge with many, many palm trees.Then down again towards to a stream and water hole, and apparently favourite haunt of the dragons- but not this morning.They like to hang about the water source as every creature needs to drink at some stage, so when the pigs, deer or monkeys come for a sip, its an ideal time for them to inflict the bite which will eventually kill the victim. Apparently like that other ancient reptile the crocodile, the Komodo dragons have a very effective short distance to speed ratio, and can cover a couple of meters with surprising agility.

'Jessica' at home.

There was only one other group of early morning spotters about, but both of us were out of luck in the wilds. Eventually we approached the first of the two nests which were being occupied. The nest being made of earth. Nobody was home on the first nest, but finally just near the second nest, there taking in the rays, was Jessica. Both the nesting females have been named by the guides. Julia was the absent one.

Back at the Ranger station, there before our eyes, were a dozen of the dragons. Like most creatures , they have figured that there is a much easier food source around the camp, I suspect. It was by now 0830 and they were pretty inert already, so goodness knows what they are like when the day heats up.